$60 Billion Lost...In Fraud

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WASHINGTON -- As much as $60 billion in U.S. funds has been lost to waste and fraud in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past decade through lax oversight of contractors, poor planning and payoffs to warlords and insurgents, an independent panel investigating U.S. wartime spending estimates.

In its final report to Congress, the Commission on Wartime Contracting said the figure could grow as U.S. support for reconstruction projects and programs wanes, leaving both countries to bear the long-term costs of sustaining the schools, medical clinics, barracks, roads and power plants already built with American tax dollars.

Much of the waste and fraud could have been avoided with better planning and more aggressive oversight, the commission said. To avoid repeating the mistakes in Iraq and Afghanistan, government agencies should overhaul the way they award and manage contracts in war zones, the commission recommended.

Amusingly enough, $60 billion was how much the Republicans told us their war would cost all day. That's more like $800 billion - $1 trillion (although some say it will total out to $3 trillion), in case you're curious.

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Like I said, we gave them close to 200x that since Carter and Reagan Israel and Egypt have been sucking us dry for decades?. What is the point? Do you have a problem with it now because it's Kerry? Where were you in the past?